Various electrical connector assemblies have integral or internal switches which signal a change in circuit condition upon mating of a pair of connectors. Typically, the pair of connectors have complementary interconnecting terminals which engage and establish a circuit through the connector assembly when the connectors are mated. In addition, one or both of the mating connectors may have a pair of switch contacts which may be normally closed or normally open. One of the switch contacts is a movable contact on one of the mating connectors and which is in the path of movement of the other mating connector, whereupon the switch contacts are moved from their normally closed or normally open condition upon mating of the connectors to signal a change in a given circuit condition.
One application of circuit switching is in signal transmission connectors which use antennas for receiving given signals. The system may include an external antenna. For instance, a mobile cell phone has its own (external) antenna. It also may be desirable to connect the mobile phone to an internal antenna, such as on an automobile. Consequently, when the internal antenna is connected to the system, a separate switch is activated to disconnect the external antenna. The present invention is directed to such a switching arrangement which eliminates any separate switches and incorporates a switch from the external antenna to the internal antenna, directly into the signal transmission circuit.